Scott Ericson: It's time to change the culture of sports

Updated 10:45 pm, Saturday, May 4, 2013

Would anyone find it acceptable if a coach or player hurled a racial insult at a black athlete on a high school team?

No way.

Just as those slurs are universally unacceptable, so, too, is language that demeans athletes based on sexual orientation.

With all the varsity, JV, freshmen and club teams at high schools in the area, there are no doubt gay athletes putting on the school colors and competing for their communities every day.

It is time to make them feel safe, whether or not we know who they are.

Coaches and players must stop using pejorative language as a motivational tool, immediately.

Last week, NBA journeyman Jason Collins became the first active professional male athlete from a major sport to publicly declare he is gay, writing in Sports Illustrated, "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay."

Some in the media are calling Collins the "Jackie Robinson" of the gay community.

It's a lazy comparison, an attempt to shorthand a complex subject for a society addicted to sound bites and Tweets.

But it is also a false analogy.

First, there was no closet for Robinson and other black athletes. They were black and everyone knew it. And it wasn't that a certain climate was not conducive for them to play in, it was actually illegal.

While the subject, especially among male athletes, is taboo, gay athletes are not banned from professional sports. Black athletes, meanwhile, were not allowed to play on the same teams as white players, stay in the same hotels, eat in the same restaurants or ride on the same buses.

The important parallel between black and gay athletes is the language used by those in the sports is changing.

If you had a black teammate, you would become less likely to use racial slurs, but if you have a closeted gay athlete on your team, you may throw around gay slurs without realizing you are cutting someone to the quick.

With Collins coming out, I began wondering if it would be harder for an athlete to come out at the pro, college or high school level.

Collins and any pro who follows in his footsteps will immediately have the support of national media, gay rights groups and nearly every forward-thinking person in the country. A high school athlete would have to walk into a locker room with 20 other guys and tell them he is gay.

It would then fall on the team to choose whether to accept or reject him.

He would not be on "Good Morning America," LeBron James would not Tweet about it and ESPN would not follow his every move as well as how he's treated by teammates and opponents.

It would not even make the local paper, leaving the responsibility on coaches and school administrators to create a safe and welcoming environment.

Our schools have the opportunity to create that environment before a high school athlete decides to come out. They have the power to change the culture, not just for the kid who is courageous enough to tell his parents, friends and coaches, but for that teenager who is not ready to step forward.

The language needs to change now.

I was called every name in the book as a high school athlete by coaches, teammates and opponents and it never bothered me, but that does not make it right.

I am not gay, so being called an anti-gay name meant nothing to me, but looking back, I can't imagine if one of my teammates was gay and had to listen to that kind of language in the locker room and on the field.

I am sure this has changed dramatically in the 20 years since I was in high school with a cultural shift toward sensitivity, but it still exists.

I have heard gay slurs used by high school athletes against each other on more than one occasion over the past few years, by both male and female athletes.

At a boys ice hockey game a few years ago, I was caught between two opposing players in the penalty box throwing gay slurs back and forth and nobody seemed to think this was a problem.

The job of coaches and administrators is to create an environment that is safe for all athletes, and if we have situations that are not safe for gay athletes, then it is probably not safe for any kid who feels different because they're overweight, short or red-headed.

By simply watching what they say, coaches can make the environment welcoming to everyone.

I am not saying coaches can't yell or swear, but the language we heard from Mike Rice at Rutgers or anything that is meant to demean or humiliate someone based on sexuality or appearance should be placed on the shelf with the racial slurs so commonly heard in the past.

The goal for all coaches is to win, and don't you think having kids who feel safe and secure would help them play to their potential?

Gay people I know say coming out lifted a tremendous weight off their shoulders and made them better people, workers and friends because they didn't have to worry about people "finding out" they were gay.

Schools have a responsibility to make everyone feel included and a duty to make any student, gay or not, feel welcome.

Whether a local athlete comes out or not, it is time to change the game.